November 21 in Israel

Today I saw some things I will never un-see.

On October 7th at 6:30 am at Kfar Aza, about 1 km from the border with Gaza the first wave of heavily armed terrorists stormed the kibbutz killing the guards and taking control. They were followed shortly by the second wave of “regular” less trained terrorist who started killing civilians and grabbing hostages. The third wave was the worst and simply calling them terrorists may be too kind.

They were civilian monsters who raped women, dismembered bodies, and burned children.

I was there today, and other than removing the bodies and the blood, nothing else had changed. The kibbutz has been evacuated and is under army control.

I saw small homes full of bullet holes and grenade shrapnel, and the IDF Major who was our escort took us to various homes and showed us the pictures that were taken on their arrival.

We spoke to the pathologists who specialize in removing the bodies with dignity.

I saw photos of charred bodies of people with their hands tied behind their backs and a bullet hole in their head.

They told us of opening one bullet ridden safe room to find the family in a death embrace, the children locked in between the parents.

Another picture of baby with a knife still stuck in its skull; the hilt sticking out of one side of their head and the point sticking out the other.

Barbaric is not a strong enough word to describe what I saw and heard today.

We were joined by the Speaker of the Knesset (the Parliament) who asked us to share what we saw with the world.

And he asked that we remind the world that this not just a fight between Israel and Hamas.

This is a our fight as well. It is a fight between all liberal democracies against terrorism, against radicalism, against extremism, against evil and darkness.

Today I bore witness, and maybe for the first time in my life I truly understand the phrase “Never Again.”